Sayaka Miki

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"Hey Mami see that my wish has been granted." "There's no way I'll ever regret it." "And right now this is the happiest moment of my life." - Sayaka Miki, Episode 5.

Sayaka Miki is a main character and Madoka's best friend. Like Madoka, she is also a second-year student at Mitakihara Middle School. Tomboyish, confident, and a little brash, she upholds a strong sense of justice and adopts a heroic attitude as a magical girl.

General Info

"I, magical girl Sayaka, will do my best to protect the people of Mitakihara City!" - Sayaka Miki, Episode 5.

Madoka’s classmate and good friend. Energetic and lively, which is perhaps why her sword is the only melee weapon among the four.

Ms. Aoki’s Design Check!: Her personality is so boyish that I had to be careful not to make her look too boyish too. So I gave her hair a diagonal line in back, to straddle the line between short and medium length.

Magical girl outfit: Sayaka’s outfit is the closest to combat gear. Since her sword is a melee weapon, I paid attention to that while designing her clothes. (Aoki)

Her outfit features diagonal-cut skirt and shoulderless top for ease of movement. Add a cape, and she’s a picturesque swordswoman.

Sayaka's height range, according to the Production Note, is 158-160cm. Her birthday, blood type and other biographical information is unknown at this time.

Sayaka has powerful regenerative abilities, she can heal herself much faster than any other magical girls.

Sayaka becomes a magical girl in Episode 4; Episode 5 details her debut as a magical girl, including the scene where she makes the contract with Kyubey.

Sayaka turns into a witch named Oktavia von Seckendorff in Episode 8. While she has brought hope to others, the balance between hope and despair is then mitigated by an equal amount of despair appearing in Sayaka's soul. This despair eventually overcomes Sayaka, shatters her Soul Gem, and turns it into a Grief Seed.

Her witch form was killed by Kyoko in Episode 9; Madoka and Kyoko attempted to bring Sayaka back to her normal form, but according to Kyubey that was impossible. But the quote (below) is true.

Sayaka remains dead in the new timeline created by Madoka in the final episode, though Madoka grants her final wish to hear Kyousuke play violin. From Mami and Kyoko's perspective, it appears as though she sacrificed herself to destroy a Wraith.

Madoka and Sayaka are childhood friends, the NitroPlus novel goes into detail regarding their encounter and their friendship.

In the movie opening, it shows scenes of Madoka's life. Sayaka is shown with Hitomi and Kyousuke along the way.

Color Theme: Blue.

Soul Gem shape: C-shape, similar to a cresent moon.

Elemental Themes: Water and Music.

Personality

Sayaka is a bit tomboyish and acts heroic. She is devoted to her friends, especially when she makes the contract right away and saves Madoka. She has a large girlish side in that she loves classical music, and is very interested in romance. She cares for Kyosuke and is extremely hurt when he chooses Hitomi. This is why she falls into deep despair, as a result corrupting her soul gem and ultimately making her a witch. When she listens to Kyosuke one last time, (unless in the new universe by some people's theories she can watch over the universe with Madoka then she may listen to Kyosuke play again), she actually feels glad and proud for him that Hitomi will make him happy.

History

Sayaka in the Anime and Drama CDs

The "Sunny Day Life" Drama CD depicts Sayaka checking Hitomi's panties with dubious interest. Making her look like some sort of pervert.

Even Madoka knows this is wrong.

Sayaka in Oriko Magica

"Madoka, what are you planning to do when you get there? I have no idea why Homura is out there fighting, but...you can't do /a thing to help, right Madoka? You'd end up getting in her way. That's why...'Sayaka-san' is going in as backup."

Sayaka is mentioned in Chapter 3. She does not appear until chapter 4, however. Sayaka is also protected by Homura so that she never gets contracted there.

Unlike the other timelines, she considers Homura as a friend, as she declared in chapter 7.

She helped Hitomi to escape from familiars' attacks from chapter 5-7, when Mitakihara Junior High is covered with a witch's barrier. Madoka reunites with them, and together, they go to help Homura. Madoka is killed by Oriko, and Sayaka and Hitomi are seen mourning her just before Homura resets the timeline.

Sayaka in Kazumi Magica

Sayaka's and Oktavia's silhouettes appeared once during Umika's explanation about Witches, as she says that witches are the end state of magical girls.

Sayaka in Madoka Magica: The Different Story

Sayaka acts more like a perfectionist than she did in other media. She often obsesses over the mistakes that she makes and is very conscious of other people's expectations.

In this manga, Sayaka tries to escape when Mami requests that she study magic to find witches efficiently.

It is shown that Sayaka can also heal others in this story.

Sayaka appears in the later part of chapter 4. In chapter 7, it is shown that Sayaka makes contract and prevents Mami from danger.

When Hitomi tells her that she will confess to Kyousuke, Sayaka's sense of responsibility as a magical girl prevents her from confess first. Again, she is unable to bear her own selfishness, especially when she didn't help Hitomi who was in witch's trap.

In chapter 8, Sayaka exhausted her magic and becomes a witch. According to Kyubey, she is too weak to gain any good when there are many more powerful magical girls.

In final chapter, Sayaka is revived by Madoka, who made the contract with Kyubey. Sayaka does not remember being transformed into a witch, just Madoka saved her from being killed by a witch. Before facing Walpurgis Night, Sayaka apologizes with Homura, saying she had misunderstood her actions and what the two want is to protect Madoka. Also, Sayaka says she owes Homura for saving her life once and she'll find a way to thank her. She is last seen facing Walpurgis Night before Homura restart time.

There is a Sayaka route in the game, which is different from the anime. The scenario is supervised by Gen Urobuchi who wrote the script for the anime series. But there are multiple different 'if' developments. There is a different 'Sayaka route', in which it is possible to prevent Sayaka from becoming a witch. She may fight with other magical girls.

It is possible to have a better ending, or to have a more cruel one than the anime, depending on the player's choices.

Warning, this section contains spoilers.

It is possible to stop Sayaka's insanity and her transformation into a witch in the Sayaka route or Homura route of the PSP Game.

Kyoko can prevent Sayaka from becoming a witch.

In the Bonus Route, Sayaka has a confrontation with Hitomi about Kyousuke. After that, she confesses Kyosuke about her feelings and her identity as a Magical Girl.

Prior to the beginning of the movie, the Incubators trap Homura's Soul Gem in an Isolation Field that blocks out the Law of Cycles, causing a barrier to form within the Soul Gem. After Kyubey modifies the Field to allow the barrier to "invite" victims, Sayaka enters the barrier from the Law of Cycles along with Madoka and Nagisa Momoe. (Although the movie doesn't explicitly say this, Sayaka is essentially an angel for Madoka.) To prevent the Incubators from observing the Law of Cycles (which would give them the information they need to reinstate the witch system), Madoka entrusts her memories and powers to Sayaka and Nagisa.

Homura's witch barrier is a false, idealized Mitakihara that alters the memories of the humans trapped in it. Sayaka is unaffected by the memory alterations (either due to being part of the Law of Cycles or because she was entrusted with Madoka's memories), but plays along in order to fool Kyubey. When the movie begins, Sayaka is once again a student at Mitakihara Middle School and fights alongside the other magical girls against Nightmares, monsters created by the barrier specifically to provide an enemy for the magical girls to fight. She is shown to be much closer to Kyoko, who is now Sayaka and Madoka's classmate; in fact Kyoko is staying at Sayaka's house.

Although she is pretending to have her memories erased, Sayaka acts more well-adjusted than she did in the anime. It's implied she has memories of all of the previous timelines. When Hitomi gives birth to a Nightmare out of her frustration with Kyosuke, Sayaka jokes that Hitomi chose an insensitive boyfriend. After the Nightmare is defeated, Sayaka is the one who purifies Hitomi.

When Homura begins to discover the truth of the barrier, she suspects Bebe, Nagisa's disguised form. This puts Homura into conflict with Mami, which ends with Homura incapacitated. Sayaka saves Homura and chides her for picking a fight with Mami and suspecting Bebe. When Homura tries to stop time Sayaka prevents it from happening by thrusting her sword into Homura's shield. She chides Homura again for relying too much on her time magic. Sayaka then discusses the nature of the barrier with Homura, causing Homura to realize the witch must be one of the five magical girls. Sayaka asks Homura if it's alright to kill someone that just wants a world where everyone can be happy. Instead of answering, Homura remembers that Sayaka shouldn't exist, and asks her who she is. Sayaka responds by saying that she's exactly who Homura thinks she is. Homura then sees Oktavia reflected in a puddle the girls are standing on, prompting her to attack Sayaka. Sayaka escapes, but tells Homura to think about whether she really wants to destroy the false Mitakihara, as it would be bad if Homura had any regrets.

Eventually Homura realizes she is the witch and becomes Homulilly. Kyubey tells Madoka to reveal her true powers in order to save Homura, but Sayaka tells Madoka not to listen to him. She stabs herself in order to summon Oktavia and an army of familiars from other witches. The summoned familiars battle Homulilly's familiars, while Oktavia holds off Homulilly herself. The other magical girls either fight off Homulilly's familiars or attack the ceiling of the barrier, cracking it. During the battle, Sayaka is rescued by Kyoko and admits that she regretted abandoning Kyoko at the end of the anime. The two girls then fight off familiars together, and Oktavia even uses Kyoko's spear to punch another hole in Homulilly's barrier. Finally Madoka shatters the ceiling of the barrier and exposes Kyubey's Isolation Field. She reaches out to Homura's remaining Humanity, and together they destroy the Isolation Field from within.

Once the barrier vanishes, Ultimate Madoka descends from the sky to retrieve Homura's Soul Gem. Sayaka and Nagisa descend alongside her in a carriage. However, Homura has been changed by her experience in the barrier and grabs Madoka before she can erase Homura's Soul Gem. Homura's actions tear apart reality and seperate Madoka from her goddess self. Sayaka is engulfed by colors that erupt from Homura's Soul Gem and spread across the universe.

Akuma Homura's Universe

Tensions rising!

"Even if you say that, I won’t forget this: you, Akemi Homura, have become a devil!"

Now a self-proclaimed demon, Homura creates a new universe. For unknown reasons, Sayaka is the only one who retains her memories. Also, she can no longer return to the Law of Cycles. She confronts Homura, asking her why she stole a fragment of the Law of Cycles. Homura replied that she only stole Madoka's existence as a human. Homura says that as a demon, it's only appropriate she goes against god. Sayaka summons Oktavia again and asks Homura if she wants to destroy the universe. Homura says it's a fine idea once all the wraiths are destroyed, and when the time comes she'll gladly be their enemy. Homura then asks if Sayaka really can oppose her and claps her hands, causing Oktavia to vanish. Homura tells Sayaka that her memories are being altered. Sayaka says she remembers that she was somewhere else and part of something greater, but she can't remember what it felt like. Homura tells her to just let go and accept returning to her human life, but Sayaka says that although her memories are gone, there is one thing she will never forget: that Homura Akemi is a demon. Despite the threat, Homura says that they should at least pretend to be friends in front of Madoka.

Homura vanishes, and Sayaka is greeted by Hitomi and Kyosuke. Even though she lost her memories, she says she feels really happy to be greeted by the two. Hitomi says that Sayaka is saying strange things, and Sayaka agrees with a laugh. A shot of Sayaka's hand reveals that her ring and Soul Gem mark are still present. However, the Runes displaying her name have vanished, indicating her powers are gone or sealed. At the end of the movie Sayaka is seen enjoying pocky with Kyoko, indicating they are still close in this new world.

Trivia

"Well I'm gonna be a different kind of magical girl. That's what I've decided. I won't screw anyone over or take anyone for granted and I won't associate with anyone who does. I'll be the only magical girl around who doesn't use her magic for herself.""So what if I'm gonna die it's gonna be when I can't kill witches anymore. No ones gonna need me anyway right? I'm okay with that the world doesn't need a magical girl if she can't even kill a witch." - Sayaka Miki, Episode 8.

The first character in her last name (美) means "beauty". The last character (樹) means "tree". Her name could also be written (幹) "tree trunk" or (神酒) "sake offered to the gods."

Her last name can also be used as a first name.

Her first name is written in hiragana, which has no special meaning. The word sayaka (さやか【明か／清か, usually written in hiragana) can mean "clear", "fresh", or "bright" in Japanese.

Trees are generally associated with witches in the series, especially Walpurgisnacht, and an offering to the gods is a sacrifice. So, Sayaka Miki is a "fresh sacrifice" whose very name foreshadows her becoming a witch.

The official Chinese translation uses (沙耶香) as the kanji for her name. The characters also have no particular meaning (沙 "sand" 耶 "question mark" 香 "fragrant") and are used mainly for their phonetic value in Japanese to represent the word sayaka as a name. No official kanji of her name exists in the original Japanese version.

One Chinese fan translation has her name as (爽), which means "fresh" or "bright".

She describes herself as having been born "petit bourgeois," which is French for "petty bourgeois." This would mean that her family is at least from the middle class, but is by no means from the upper class (despite the fact that, if Japan has even less living space in the future than it does now, her family's apartment is far larger than a normal middle-class family could afford).

Although her character design depicts her with a two-edged sword she is seen using a katana with a saber-like guard in the anime. The manga uses the sword from her original design.

According to recent interview, "Sayaka had her personality based on a 'Gen Urobuchi character'"

In episode 5, Madoka said she always act before thinking twice, and is easy to conflict with others. But on the other side, she is kind, courageous and willing to work hard for others. Homura commented her good side is fatal for a magical girl. Her kindness makes her ignorant, her courage makes her careless, and she'll get no return on her hard work for others.

When Sayaka transformed in the train in Episode 8, the fate of the two hosts was open to interpretation in the original scenario by Gen Urobuchi. While Shinbo has recently confirmed that Sayaka did not kill the two men in the anime, they were in fact killed in the manga version.

Sayaka's hairpin disappears when she transforms into magical girl form.

According to Official Guidebook, both Shinbo and Aoki think it would be better to attach something instead. Aoki has tried adding another hairband with something in star or ball shape, but that would make her look like playing in a serious fight so she gave up such idea. Urobuchi said a cloak is flashy enough, however.

Manga Time Kirara Magica volume 1 showed Sayaka in her transformed state with a new hairpin in the shape of ƒƒ, the musical notation for "fortissimo" or "very loud." This fits her musical theme and her bold personality. Apparently the staff finally found a design they're happy with.

And finally the staff have the chance to give her that hairpin in the Madoka Magica Movie. According to Director Shinbo, this can be seem as compensation for her since she is such a character always suffers the fate.

While using her magic, circles of notes are sometimes seen around or near her. This is believed to be related to her wish to heal Kamijou.

Due to the nature of her wish, Sayaka has self-healing abilities and great endurance. In battle, she can combine this self-healing special ability with magical techniques that detach her senses and block all forms of pain, becoming a nearly unstoppable berserker.

School uniform: Her figure is flat and plain, but her chest is bigger than Madoka’s. Her hairbow is a stitched design. Below, she wears simple navy-blue high socks.

Sayaka seems to have had an extremely black-and-white and idealistic vision of love, which seems to have contributed to her breakdown. She made a contract to heal the arm of the boy she has a crush on (Kamijou), but after learning the truth about the Magical Girl contract, she felt that she couldn't approach him, and this wasn't helped by Kamijou's obliviousness to her feelings and Hitomi's more assertive behavior that ended up with Hitomi becoming Kamijou's girlfriend, unaware of Sayaka's problem. This threw her in a self-destructive spiral, in which she refused help from others (especially Kyoko, Homura and Madoka), seeking to either die or kill to dull the pain.

Sayaka is the only magical girl in the series to wear a cloak.

The cloak or cape could be symbolic to emphasize her ideal role as a knight of justice or a hero to the defenseless; a desire to become a role model just like Mami.

The cutlass is a well-known nautical weapon for sailors and pirates, probably an attempt to connect Sayaka to the element of water.

Water is usually considered to be an element of healing and purification in religion and mythology. Major faiths incorporate ritual washing.

The "C" Motif could relate to the link between her and music. In Medieval music, the Gregorian Chant system uses a C-like figure to denote a "Do" in a staff.

It seems Sayaka does not always contract with Kyubey in all timelines. What happened to her if she does not contract is unknown. But once she get contracted, her fate is always becoming a witch.

The grief seed, which Madoka used for purifying Homura's Soul Gem in Episode 10's Timeline 3, may be Sayaka herself (likely to be transformed from Sayaka's Soul Gem and recovered after Homura destroyed Oktavia von Seckendorff). This is because the 5 lines being seen on grief seed look like the musical Staff.

This theory is supported by the fact that the emblem of Sayaka's Soul Gem can be seen at the top of this Grief Seed; furthermore the Grief Seed heavily resembles the depiction of Oktavia's Grief Seed from the PSP Game.

The Blu-Ray version of Sayaka's transformation is accompanied with a display of musical scores and circles of notes.

It gets worse, even if Madoka's test scores are low, they are higher than Sayaka's.

We usually see Sayaka sleeping in class. No wonder she gets low scores.

Sayaka's Farewell

"I'm okay with that. Yeah I'm okay with that. I mean all I ever really wanted was to hear him play again you know? I wanted everyone to hear him play that violin of his the more people the better. Just remembering that again is enough for me. I don't have any regrets anymore." "But I am a bit upset about how things turned out. I can't help the way things went with Hitomi-chan. She's way too good for Kyosuke, but I am sure she'll make him happy, won't she?" Sayaka's last conversation with Madoka, Episode 12.

Sayaka still dies in the new world, but this time she passes without regrets from her choice.

Even though Sayaka is the only supporting character of the series to remain dead in the new world created by Madoka (due to using all her magic), the fact that Sayaka and Madoka were able to meet up one last time to watch Kamijou's violin playing, along with the nature of Madoka's wish, has resulted in many fans suggesting that Sayaka's soul, although erased from the world, now resides in the same plane of existence that Madoka inhabits, where she will watch over all the other magical girls along with Madoka.

I'm sorry to put my own opinions into this, but this I do personally believe. It is my headcanon that Sayaka ascended with Madoka and was not erased, but killed instead in a battle (editing her fate to become Oktavia) and that all magical girls who died or were about to become witches ascended with Madoka and that Sayaka, Madoka, and other magical girls to watch over all others. By my headcanon, all magical girls are fated to die and ascend with Madoka eventually, unless they manage to survive for all eternity. It is also a headcanon of mine that a magical girl are automatically granted eternal youth and to an extent immunity from illnesses and can only die by a fatal wound in a battle.

Of course, this could be because Madoka personally visited every Magical Girl in all of time before they turned into Witches and instead let them merely die, before she was erased from reality as a regular girl. She could easily have taken Sayaka to see Kamijou perform Ave Maria during this brief meeting. She did become a goddess, after all.

According with Mami and her understanding of "The Law of Cycles", as a result of a magical girl having sought a wish brings despair into the world, her spirit disappears before that happens.

It is suggested that Madoka's presence is there to help Sayaka to move on, to help her ease her ending so she would have no regrets.

Madoka informs Sayaka that she could have changed Sayaka's fate but in doing so she would have interfered with Kyosuke's fate as well and he wouldnt be able to play the violin. So Madoka decided to respect Sayaka's choice and tearfully Sayaka is fine with it.

In the new timeline created by Madoka, she is not only allowed to listen to Kyousuke's performance, but she is also given the choice to become a knight of justice to the very end, erasing her fate of becoming a witch, an enemy of her beliefs in her mind.

It appears that Sayaka also remembers who Madoka is in the new timeline created by the latter. This is due to Sayaka's choice of words when conversing with Madoka in episode 12; while watching Kamijou play the violin in a private session, Sayaka confesses to Madoka that she has caused her best friend a lot of trouble. This suggests that Sayaka is aware, or at least has some understanding of the emotional hurt she had inflicted on Madoka (and possibly her other friends) in the previous timelines because of her stubbornness to hold true to her own ideals, which led to her Witch transformation.

In that scene, Madoka says, "No, I have to apologize, too. To save you I had to erase it all. And this future will disappear, too." This suggests that the scene happens before the universe resets. The Miki Sayaka of the new world may not remember Madoka.

It's all metaphysics, who is to say at this point.

The Rebellion Story confirms Sayaka remembers all the previous timelines.

At the Otakon 2012 panel, Urobuchi explained the reason why Sayaka had to die, "This was something that director Shinbo proposed at one of the dubbing sessions, that Sayaka Miki could've been kept alive in the story. But my conviction was that in order for the audience to really understand why Madoka became a God at the end, it was important that she die. After all was said and done, Shinbo said to me that the amount of responsibility placed on a middle school girl may have been too much. We explore that more in the movie."[1].